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Raise More Money By Leveraging Donor Motivation

Jan 17, 2018

What motivates donors to give?

This is an important question, especially if you’re a nonprofit executive or fundraiser. Donors are the lifeblood of your organization; they allow you to execute your mission. Without your donors, you probably wouldn’t be in business.

Stating the obvious: donors are a central component of any successful nonprofit.

How we approach development is often driven by the kind of response we’re trying to elicit from donors. And the response we try to elicit depends on what we think motivates donors.

Do donors primarily give out of (enlightened) self-interest?

Are donors driven by a desire for a good return on their investments?

Do donors prioritize giving to organizations that can demonstrate effectiveness and impact (i.e., they look at the data and give accordingly)?

Many would answer “yes” to some or all of the above. This seems to be the conventional wisdom. We increasingly hear from philanthropy experts that these are the motivating factors, especially among high-net-worth individuals—your major donors. We’re told that they’re more sophisticated and are concerned about “root causes”, that they want to discern the marginal impact of their giving and measure the relative performance of charities.

This may be true. But then again maybe it’s not. At least maybe not quite as often as we think.

Ask yourself this question: What motivates you to give to the charities and causes that you support?

I suspect that your answer to this question may be telling and very much in line with what we know about human nature from modern psychology and sociology regarding identity and sociality. After all, human beings are human beings, and the motivating factors for donors are likely the same whether one is making a $100 or $100,000 gift.

DOUG SCHNEIDER is a Managing Partner with American Philanthropic, LLC, a national consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and professional services for philanthropies and nonprofits. Doug has nearly two decades of experience in sales, marketing, communications, and fundraising. Prior to joining American Philanthropic, Doug served as the Director of Development for the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). In this capacity he managed ISI’s annual fund, was part of ISI’s management team that raised an operating budget of $10 million per year, and oversaw the Institute’s marketing and communications efforts. As a partner at American Philanthropic, Doug works with a wide range of nonprofit organizations, with a focus on strategic planning and high-level development management..